2 Samuel 19 Footnotes

19:43 Why did the Israelites speak of only “ten shares” in the king, since there were twelve tribes in all (thirteen, counting Ephraim and Manasseh separately)? Warfare had torn Israel into two major factions, north and south. There are two ways to understand the number of tribes involved, both excluding Levi which had no territorial holdings of its own (Dt 10:9; 18:1). (1) The north had ten tribes, counting Ephraim and Manasseh, the Joseph tribes, as one. (2) The north had ten tribes, counting Ephraim and Manasseh separately, if Benjamin was reckoned with Judah. Jerusalem, David’s capital, was located within the territory of Benjamin, and would remain the capital of the separate kingdom of Judah after the reign of Solomon.